The Gavin Fan Club

Sunday, December 27, 2015

We bought a house at the beginning of October and moved in the week of Halloween. Gavin has tons of room to run and we still have two rooms that are unfurnished (the house has three living/family rooms and we only have furniture in the one with the tv). One is empty and Gavin just runs and jumps there. The other one currently holds our Christmas tree and a boatload of toys. The window sill in that one is the perfect height for Gavin to play at and I should probably clean the finger prints off the window at some point.

The backyard is not huge, but sufficient, and fenced. And we have lots of room for guests and in the course of just over a week we housed my cousin, her husband and their son (just older than Gavin!); my brother's family of six; and my parents. None of those groups at once, but in very quick succession. Four bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, just down the street from the school where Gavin will most likely attend kindergarten and first grade.

And as for Gavin, he talks all the time and is forming phrases and can kind of hold a conversation. He's sleeping in a twin bed now and we took down the crib today. He had a very mild case of hand foot and mouth virus the week before Christmas and had a day of a stomach bug two days before Christmas. He loves to yell at our cat Lilly. "Lilly, down!" "Lilly, nap!" "Lilly, eat!" (this last one yelled at her while he held a head of garlic). My heart melts when he says "Love you mama" or brings a book and sits in my lap. And he plays with my hair now, which I hope never ends. While he was sick over the past few weeks I let him nap in my bed and while he napped I read beside him and snoozed myself.

Speaking of reading, I'm doing more of it. I usually go to bed soon after Gavin and spend an hour or so reading before I fall asleep. Which is why I'm slower in updating the blogs. I'm almost finished with a book about the building of the Hooover Dam and for Christmas I got a new bio of Nelson Rockefeller and the McCullough book about the Wright Brothers. And that's where I'm headed now.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Tonight after dinner at the home of friends, you wanted to go outside to play among the big kids. You don't yet play with them but you absolutely love being with other kids. You giggle at their antics and run run run around them. But you still held my hand. As we ran down the drive way and then back up the yard you held my hand and if you let go you turned around to make sure that I was with you.

I know that I will not always be your #1, nor do I want to be. But I love that I am a source of comfort to you now. I love that you say mama and that you run to me at the end of the day. I love that you reach out for me when you want to get out of your crib or high chair, or if you get hurt.

I want you to grow up to be independent and able to meet your needs on your own. And I want you to, someday, walk away from me with a wave and go on to college and whatever else your life holds. But I hope that you'll still turn around to make sure that I'm there in the background somewhere, not so silently rooting you on.

You are already the embodiment of so many dreams come true and we're not even a year and a half into this relationship. You're a wonderful little boy and it will be my pleasure to see you grow into a wonderful man, and maybe even to help you become that.

But for now, please keep holding my hand and looking to make sure that I'm right there behind you. I love you with a love that I couldn't imagine 18 months ago and I am so excited for all that we have ahead of us.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

We spent the weekend among great friends in Utah. It was almost an entirely enjoyable weekend. Living closer to so many people that we love was a big sell on moving the Idaho. These are friends that one or both of us have known for a long time. And most of them have kids for Gavin to play with. He loves other kids and I love watching him run run run and giggle with them.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

This morning we met some cousins at the local zoo. Gavin went to the Buffalo zoo twice before but this is the first time he's been old enough to really enjoy it. It took him a few minutes to get comfortable with it but then he took off walking and talking and enjoying himself. He got to pet some goats but wasn't interested in touching the llama. He had a lot to say to some fox like creatures (I didn't get a chance to read all the signage saying what the animals were).

Gavin just loves being around other kids and I happen to have a cousin (and few, actually) who live here in town who has a son just a few months older than Gavin. There were some amazing laughs from these two during our visit to the zoo today.